1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an assembly of auxiliary apparatus for an internal combustion engine; an internal combustion engine including the assembly; and a unitary base structure for the assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of assemblies combining auxiliary apparatus such as oil filter units and oil cooler devices are known. These assemblies are generally designed for external mounting on internal combustion engines. Such assemblies are provided to reduce engine envelope size and to reduce the number of connecting conduits between the auxiliary apparatus in order to reduce the number of possible leakage paths and facilitate installation and maintenance of said auxiliary apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 4370957 discloses an assembly of auxiliary apparatus comprising an oil cooler device and a twin oil filter unit, together with an oil pump and a coolant pump which share a common drive shaft. The oil cooler device housing has a mounting surface for attachment to an engine and a flange for mounting the coolant pump, upon which is provided a further flange for mounting the oil pump. The auxiliary apparatus can be interchanged separately although, except in the case of the oil filters and the oil pump, not without disturbing at least one other piece of apparatus.
The mounting surface of the oil cooler device housing is spaced from an inner wall of the housing which, together with other walls of the housing, generally encloses an oil pathway and a coolant pathway, the arrangement being such that when the assembly is attached to an engine the inner wall is located on a side of the mounting surface spaced away from the engine. Whilst this assembly still allows the engine envelope size to be reduced, it does not maximize the amount by which the engine envelope size can be reduced.